More User Reviews:

Probably my favorite offering from BBC,pours a nice rich brown/red with a nice big rocky head.The aroma of roasted malt and caramel sweetness is very appetizing,taste is on the sweet side but not overpowering with a nice roasted background.There is some faint late dryness to balance this one out,one of the best doppelbocks I have had.

Appearance - This is a gorgeous medium-brown in color with one of the most magnificent heads that I've ever seen. It's would properly be called off-white I guess but shows a lot of brown. It is firm, well structured, retentive, and left pits of shaving cream all around the glass and on top of the liquid. This is truly a beauty shop.

Smell - The malts here are rich and show a lot of depth. There's a light toastiness to them and a sweet character reminiscent of sulphored molasses.

Taste - The malts are incredibly rich. The sweets are substantial without imparting that cheap table sugar flavor that poor efforts at the style can't seem to resist. I get a hint of chocolate as well giving this one a little more complexity than is typical of the style.

Mouthfeel - This is a big medium-bodied with no bitter aftertaste. The alcohol was a little more prominent than I would like for a DB but other than that one minor complaint this was an excellent mouthfeel.

Drinkability - It was wonderful experience drinking this beer. Too often American brewers use a sledgehammer to beef up an otherwise mild style but here they managed to stay fairly true to the beer yet produce a big ale deserving of the "imperial" moniker. Well done Sam Adams.

This is a dark beer with a little head. The smell it gives actually reminds me alot of Horn Dog Barleywine from Flying Dog. It smells very sugary, yeasty, and I get alcohol and dark fruit, maybe even black cherry. The taste is intensely sweet with only feeble bittering hops attempting to hold it back. I get tones of caramel, nut, and red apple skin but all of these cower on the palate before the sugary-sweet presence of this cloying malt-bomb. Mouthfeel is thick and syrupy-sludgey. I guess this could be considered doppelbock but it is closer to what I think of as barleywine. In the end it has none of the lager characteristics that make good doppelbock such a thing of beauty.

This was quite a supprise to me that Sam Adams could brew a beer like this, but I was pleased. It poured a ruby red color with a frothy white head that did not stay long but left a little lace down the glass. The smell was a very inviting carmel malt scent with some toffee scents as well. The flavor was great with a huge malt carmel sweetness and a great breadyness as well. The 8.4% alc was hidden quite well and just slightly snuck into the flavor profile. For an American brewed Double Bock, this one is right up there with Sudwerk's for my fav.

This is a top-notch beer. Deep, deep reddish copper. It focuses the light like a prism. Beautiful. A vigorous pour raise a thick, buff head that recedes to a ring around the glass. The aroma of rich malt fills my nose and summons the glass to my lips. Thick, January sorghum with just the mere hint of bitter cocoa on the back end of the finish. I truly love this beer. Easy drinking with no real alcohol that I can detect inspite of the high abv. Wonderful. I passed on this the first time I saw it. Never again. If I see it, I will buy it, and you should too.

2007 batch. Pours into my glass a vibrant hue of copper and deep red with a fizzy head that quickly becomes a ring on the top of the brew. Good clarity as well. Aromas begin with big, bready sweet malts along with caramel and fruits. Some toffee and a slight nuttiness. Smells sweet off the bat with a touch of alcohol as well.

First sip brings a sweet bready, caramel heavy malt upfront that gets plowed into by a solid fruitiness. Notes of toffee and a touch of nuttiness comes in on the way down, however the sweetness keeps its hold the entire time. It flows down with a cherry afterthought and a touch of alcohol burn on the back of the throat. Plenty of malts here but the fruitiness and sweetness just does me in. Only a tiny touch of bitterness comes through here.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slickness to it that doesn't really jive well with me. Prickly carbonation on the way down. It just doesn't have the body I would like in a dopplebock. Overall drinkability is hindered by the sweetness and alcohol burn this one brings. I've heard many say this gets better with age so I'll set some aside and see, as for right now I'd pass.

A 12oz bottle, best before 10/07. A dark amber color with a small head. A sweet caramel aroma with a definite malt presence. Very malty, chewy taste. Very bread-like. Creamt mouthfeel, very substantial. Quite drinkable, but filling. Didn't notice the 8.8% ABV. A nice beer.

One of the few beers that I can honestly say that I look forward to each year. Malty, robust and extremely warming ... one of the last ballsy beers by Sam Adams, and one that I wish was a year round beer.

Deep reddish brown, with a head that likes to hang around for a while. Aroma of biscuity malt, sweetness, and hints of hop spice.

Initial sip is sweet malt - sugar, honey, you are my candy girl, and you've got me wanting you....err, umm, right... The alcohol makes itself known throughout the sip. Chocolate and toffee halfway through to round things out. About mid-sip, a noble hop spiciness makes itself known, and that spiciness joins the malt through the finish. The flavor left on the tongue after swallowing is green apple with a background of espresso - very similar to Wagner Sled Dog Doppelbock. This is a very good thing. Very good body, but the sheer alcohol & body of the thing precludes multiple bottles.

Definitely a brew that improves if you let it cold condition for a few months. I've done this with this brew since the early 1990s, and it works every time. Somewhat sweet when fresh, but so tasty when it's given the chance to mature.

Had a black brown body with a nice 1" head sour fruit initial smell but then started getting coffee biscut molasses and carmel. My palate seemed overwhelmed by the multitude of flavors that exploded on first taste.sweet cream dark fruit chocolate all very bold and a port wine alcohol taste jumps right in. Also a winderful chewy texture. Wonderful stuff

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a small mug.

Appearance: This beer pours a beautiful deep amber brown color with a small cap of creamy foam. Inside this big beer there is some slow moving carbonation making its way through the thick body. Its light tan head holds on well and makes a little lacing on the glass.

Smell: The aroma has some nice sweet malty notes of sweet dark bread, roasted barley, caramel, and brown sugar. There is a boozy note as well and hops can be found way off in the background.

Taste/Palate: Like the aroma its flavor sweet and malty but not overly so or to the point of being cloying. The abv comes through and adds some mellow warmth to its overall character. Hop bitterness is low and just light leafy hop spice is noted in the finish. The palate is thick and heavy with just enough carbonation to give it some life.

Notes: Over all its big and bold which hits home for me when were talking about Doppelbocks.

Pours a very clear, dark amber/red color with a nice creamy, 1/2 inch beige head that sticks around for a little while before fizzling to a constant thin layer hovering atop the brew. Decent lacing noted.Aroma is very sweet, very malty, cherries, anisette, dark fruits, and evident alcohol.Flavor consists of more high dose malty sweetness right off the bat. Initial punch of huge malts, cherries, figs, raisins is followed by a slightly nutty taste with more residual sweetness, anisette, light bitter hop presence, and alcohol which leaves a nice warming effect down the gullet. Mouthfeel is creamy, full-bodied but not as much as say, a Celebrator, light carbonation, and a dry finish. Not a bad interpretation by the boys over at Boston Beer Co. I wouldn't call it extremely drinkable, not would I call any other doppelbock so. Heavy with lots of sweetness.